


A Rose Plucked from the Stem

by Liephire



Category: RWBY
Genre: A what if scenario, F/F, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I beta read my work, I don't know what to rate this story, I hope this story isn't going too fast for you guys, I kinda sorta wanted this to happen in the show, I'll edit some chapters if I see any errors, I'm making this story up as I go along, I'm such a bad person..., Jaune gets hurt too, Kidnapping, Oh god, Qrow doesn't get poisoned this time, Qrow is angry, Ren and Nora fight, Ruby gets hurt, Team RNJR - Freeform, Tyrian gets to keep his tail, Tyrian succeeds, What have I done..., but don't worry they make up, i'm a monster, sorry if the characters are ooc
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:49:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29918547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liephire/pseuds/Liephire
Summary: Ruby, injured by the amount of attacks she faced from the unknown assailant, was too weak to fight back, until she got struck by their tail.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie
Kudos: 13





	1. We Failed Her

“Ahh!” Ruby screamed as she felt pain. Closing her eyes, she immediately grasped her side. She had never experienced pain like this before. When she would fight with Yang, she would always get a bunch of sores from her muscles or bruises on the skin because Yang would never go easy on her. But this was so much worse. She moved her hand away as she saw a deep, long cut below the left side of her stomach and Tyrian’s tail nearby. She could see that the tip had some of her blood on it, just like her left hand.

When Ruby looked over at Tyrian, she was horrified to see that his eyes were a darker shade of purple as his smile grew wider. ‘Oh no,’ She thought. ‘He poisoned me.’ No wonder she was feeling weak. The poison must be running through her bloodstream. She needs to get to the hospital immediately before it gets worse.

“Ruby!” Jaune shouted, rushed footsteps could be heard as the rest of team RNJR ran towards their fallen teammate. “Ruby, please stay with me. Keep your eyes open, please!”

Ruby didn’t know what was going on, but she felt hands holding her up in a bridal way. But she could still feel her legs on the ground. She tried looking up at her teammates, but their faces were all blurry. God, she felt tired.

“No!” 

Wait, that voice, was that. “Uncle Qrow?” Ruby whispered, trying to blink the sleep out of her eyes as she tried to look for the source of her uncle’s voice. Until, in a burst of speed, a weapon could be heard clashing against a tail as a tall figure stood before Ruby. His stance was defensive as his weapon was raised towards the attacker.

“You.” Qrow growled out. “I don’t know who you are. But I suggest you stay away from my niece, right now.”

Tyrian, flabbergasted by the interruption, stared in awe at just who he’s messing with.

He gasped. “Do my eyes deceive me?” He pretended to rub his eyes in astonishment. “Why, if it isn’t Qrow Branwen.” He giggled in delight. “My, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person. My name is Tyrian.” He bowed mockingly towards Qrow, his tail hanging above his head.

“Don’t try mocking me.” Then Qrow pointed his weapon at Tyrian’s throat. “What did you do to Ruby?”

Tyrian giggled, his head still faced towards the ground. “What did you think I did to her, hm?” He raised his head up to face Qrow. “Wanna guess?” Then he wagged his tail from side to side like a dog, his smile growing wider.

Qrow looked towards his tail to see blood, Ruby’s blood. He couldn’t believe his luck. First, he overslept in the inn where he, Ruby and her friends were staying the night and now he was too late to save her, his niece from this psycho.

He couldn’t hold back his anger any longer. He yelled as he swung his weapon at Ruby’s assailant. But Tyrian was faster as he blocked the attack with his own set of weapons.

“Hey Kid.” Qrow tilted his head to the side towards Jaune, but kept his eyes on Tyrian. “I want you three to take Ruby far away from here.”

Jaune was shocked. “What but, w-what about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Qrow reassured as he faced Jaune. “Just go. I’ll hold him off.”

Tyrian laughed. “We’ll see about that.” Then he used his tail to strike Qrow, but he turned around just in time to avoid it by backing away from the attack.

Jaune, following Qrow’s orders, picked up Ruby slowly. Careful not to hurt her injured side, his arms were holding her back and under her legs as he looked at the rest of the team.

“Alright guys, you heard him. Let’s get out of here.” Jaune said, Ren and Nora both gave him a nod as they ran from the fight and out of Oniyuri. 

Leaving Qrow to fight the lunatic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry if this chapter is short, but I hope you guys liked it. If I made any mistakes, then comment down below, I always read all the comments. I promise!


	2. Did we make it?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of team RNJR finally made it far away from the fight between Qrow and Tyrian, but what if it wasn’t far enough?

“It’s okay Ruby, you’ll be fine as long as you’re with us.” Jaune whispered to Ruby as the rest of team RNJR kept on moving forward. “We’ll make it to Mistral and find you a doctor, you’re going to be okay.”

“How much further until we can stop?” Nora asked Ren.

“Just a bit further, I can still sense them even if they are far away.” Ren said, not turning around to face Nora as he led the team further into the forest. But after a few minutes he turned his head slightly to the side. “We’ll stop soon.”

“Good, because I don’t think I’ll be able to walk any further.” Nora complained as she felt tired from the amount of walking they’ve done today. Even that fight from earlier took a toll on her.

“I agree,” Jaune began as he caught up to Nora. “But we have to make sure we are out of range and out of sight, otherwise.” Jaune looked down at Ruby in his arms. “Who knows what will happen to Ruby if that man takes her. We have to be careful.”

Nora nodded as they kept walking side by side until Ren stopped.

“Ren?” Nora asked, concerned by her teammate's sudden stillness.

"It’s okay,” Ren reassured as he turned around to face his team. “We can stop now.”

Both Jaune and Nora sighed in relief as they all found a spot near the trees. Bringing out Ruby’s sleeping bag, Nora laid it down on the ground and Jaune laying Ruby on top. While Ren was still on the lookout.

“Do you think Ruby will be okay?” Nora asked Jaune, as she was very concerned for her injured friend. “Since, well. You know, she got hurt.”

“Of course she’ll be okay.” Jaune replied. “We’ve all known Ruby since we’ve first met her and she does get hurt a bunch of times from Grimm and people, but she still keeps fighting. And I believe that she’ll be fighting this poison too.”

Nora smiled. “Then I believe she will too.”

After their talk, Ren walks over to the group.

“Hey Ren, are we safe?” Jaune asked as Ren sat beside Nora.

“Well, to tell you the truth.” Ren replied as he looked down at the ground. “I don’t know, but let's just hope we have some distance between us and them.”

Jaune nodded. “Agreed.”

It was silent until a sound of a twig snapped and startled the team.

“What was that?” Nora asked as she wondered if the man had found them already. But how did he get here so fast if he was still fighting with Qrow all the way from Oniyuri?

Ren got up from his spot and bought out his weapons as he strolled towards the source, slowly and carefully until he heard growling.

He sighed. “It’s okay, it’s just a Beowolf.”

The rest of the team sighed as Ren took care of the beast by slicing it with his daggers, killing it instantly.

Although, while he was distracted by the Grimm, he didn’t know that there was someone else hiding amongst his team until it was too late.

Ren turned around quickly as he shouted. “Jaune!”

Jaune tried to turn around, but he wasn’t fast enough as he got slashed on his left arm by a blade. Making him bleed out.

“Jaune!” Nora yelled out as she got out her weapon, ready to attack. The man, he’s here? But how? And why wasn’t Qrow fighting him anymore? Where has he gone? He didn’t get killed by him, did he?

“Na ah ah.” Tyrian said as he held out his hand, waving his pointer finger left and right at Nora. “If you want your friend alive, I suggest you let me take the girl and I’ll be on my way.”

Nora looked back at Ren, her weapon still in her hands as she didn’t know what to do in this situation. Ren didn’t know what to do either, he didn’t want Ruby to be taken but he also didn’t want his friend to die. 

What do they do?

“No, don’t do it, Ren.” Jaune grunted out as he kept his hand over his injury. “I’ll be fine, just don’t let him near Ruby.”

Jaune was silenced as the man’s boot stomped on him, putting pressure on his injured arm as he cried out in pain.

“Shh…” Tyrian shushed Jaune as he hardened his foot on the boy. “Don’t make this harder on yourself.”

Then he looked up at Ren as he smiled. “So, will your friend die or will he live another day? Hm, I wonder.” He asked as he tapped his chin while he looked up at the sky, then he brang his arm towards him and used his other hand to tap his wrist, pretending that he has a wrist watch strapped to it. “Tick tock boy, I don’t have all day.”

Ren thought about it for a moment until he had his answer, he sighed. “Fine.” Nora was shocked by his answer. “Please, get off of my friend and leave us alone.”

Tyrian giggled at that. “No promises, kid.” He said as he lifted his boot off of Jaune and went towards Ruby. He grabbed her as he held her bridal style. Then he looked back at Ren. “You know, I'm disappointed.” He started. “I was kind of hoping you would have said no, but all well. A deal's a deal.” He shrugged as he walked away from the rest of the team. “Farewell, travelers.”

Then he ran in the opposite direction, leaving team RNJR alone without Ruby by their side.


	3. She's Gone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of team RNJR failed to protect Ruby, and now they’re facing the consequences of their actions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo, another chapter! Man, I'm on a roll!
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

“Jaune!” Nora shouted as she ran towards him and crouched down to his level. “Oh gosh, are you okay?”

Jaune sat up as he held his injured arm. “Yeah, I’ll be fine as long as my arm gets cleaned and bandaged up.”

Ren got closer to them until Nora stopped him by standing up and blocking his way. She was angry. “What is wrong with you?” She asked. “How could you just let him take Ruby, I thought you wanted to protect her?”

“Well, what was I supposed to do. Let him kill Jaune?” Ren shouted. “We didn’t have a choice, Nora. He could have died if we didn’t give up Ruby.”

“Oh, so you decided to ‘give up’ Ruby, huh?” Nora started. “I didn’t decide to give up Ruby, and neither did Jaune. You did and look at what happened, Ren,” She raised her arms outwards. “She’s gone and we’re never going to get her back because of you.” She pointed at Ren after she finished.

“Um, guys.” Jaune tried to talk to them, but he got ignored by the two.

“Me?” Ren said, his hand on his chest. “If you were in my shoes, you would have done the exact same thing as I did.”

“No, I wouldn’t.” Nora argued, clearly not agreeing with him. “I would have fought back and saved Jaune from that maniac. Because that is the right choice.”

“And mine wasn’t?” Ren asked. “I was doing the right thing by saving Jaune.”

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Oh, like you saved Ruby from being captured?”

“Guys?” Jaune tried to speak up, but with no luck.

Ren groaned. “Look, this isn’t exactly what I wanted either. But it’s already happened and now-”

“Now we don’t have Ruby with us anymore, yeah I know.” Nora finished. “And I wonder who’s fault that was?”

“Guys?!” Jaune shouted, finally grabbing the attention of his teammates.

“What!?” Ren and Nora shouted, both looking at Jaune with a glare.

“Uh,” Jaune was at a loss for words until he had the courage to speak up again. “Look, I get it. But if you guys keep arguing like this for the rest of the day, then nothing is going to get done. Like my arm, for example.” He said as he raised his arm to show them, which is still gushing out a lot of blood.

Nora’s eyes widened. “Oh right, sorry.” She said as she immediately went towards Jaune and grabbed the first aid kit from her backpack. 

She first rolled up Jaune’s sleeve as she got some Hydrogen Peroxide out of the kit and dabbed some on a piece of cloth, then she drifted it towards his arm that had a huge slash across it until she stopped her movement. “I’m not going to lie to you, Jaune.” She said as she looked up at him. “This is going to hurt, a lot.”

Jaune smiled at Nora. “Oh, well uh. Thanks for the warn-ING.” He yelped as Nora dabbed the chemical onto his injury.

“S-sorry, are you okay?” Nora said as she felt bad for hurting her friend and leader.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. Just, warn me when you’re doing that next time. Okay?” He asked, clearly in more pain than before.

Nora smiled. “You got it.” Then she continued dabbing the cloth onto his arm while Jaune kept wincing as the damp cloth kept touching his injury.

Ren, watching the interaction in the distance. Although hesitant, decided to join them by sitting across from the two while he looked down on the ground. Feeling guilty for his temper earlier. 

“I’m sorry.” Ren apologised, while Nora was busy cleaning Jaune’s wound. “And you’re right, I shouldn’t have given up Ruby. I was just so… Scared of losing another teammate, that I did the unthinkable and let the man take her away from us. I shouldn’t have been a coward and fought back, and for that.” He looked up at Nora, her back still turned to Ren. “I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done.” 

“Ren,” Nora started as she was finished with the Peroxide while grabbing the bandages to wrap Jaune’s arm. “It’s okay, I was scared too, and any sane person would have done the same. Even me.”

“Nora.” Ren almost started until Jaune interrupted their conversation.

“We lost Pyrrha, not because of us. But because she fought on what she believed was the right thing to do.” Jaune said, as both Nora and Ren were looking at him now. Feeling sad about him mentioning their dead teammate. “And yeah, she sacrificed herself because of that. But we still haven’t lost Ruby, she’s been taken but if we’re not too late. We can still save her.”

Both of his teammates smiled and nodded at Jaune, while Nora accidentally tightened the knot on the bandage that is wrapped around Jaune’s arm. Making him yelp in pain.

“Oh, whoops. Sorry, Jaune.” Nora apologised.

Jaune laughed. “It’s fine, you don’t need to keep apologising, Nora.”

Nora giggled until some bushes nearby rustled and got everyone's attention, until a familiar man rushed out.

Qrow stopped, his weapon at the ready while he looked around the area. Like he was trying to find something or someone. When he stopped looking, he put his weapon away until he approached what was left of team RNJR.

“Where is she?” He asked, feeling frustrated and out of breath from running so far. “Where’s my niece?”

As he didn’t get a response, they all had a sad expression on their faces while they looked away from Qrow. He now understood why they were so quiet, that man, Tyrian. Has taken his niece. He walked away from them and went to a nearby tree. He yelled as he punched the trunk, leaving an enormous mark behind. His breathing quickened as he tried to calm himself down.

“Well, where were you when Ruby got taken, huh?” Jaune asked as he got mad at the man. “What took you so long to get here when we needed you.”

After he let out his anger, Qrow rested his arm on the tree, his head on his arm as he let out a sigh. He stayed quiet, which felt like an eternity until he finally answered their unasked question. 

“When I was fighting Tyrian back at Oniyuri.” Qrow started. “He fell into a building, dragging me along with him, I couldn’t see anything with the smoke and rubble in the way. But I thought I knew he would be hiding somewhere, hiding in the debris. But I was wrong.” Then he hardened his fist. “He escaped while I was distracted trying to find him. It took me a while to figure that out and now, he took Ruby away all because of my bad luck.”

The team looked at each other confused, then turned to Qrow. “And how long have you had this bad luck for?” Nora asked.

Qrow got off from the tree to turn to Nora. “What? This isn’t some normal bad luck where you break a mirror or walk under a ladder. No, I’m talking about my semblance.”

“Which is?”

“Misfortune.” Qrow said, turning to Ren.

“And what does it do, exactly?” Jaune questioned Qrow.

Qrow looked at Jaune and his team. “I give other people bad luck just by being around them, but when I was around Tyrian, it felt like I was giving myself bad luck.” He flexed both of his hands as he looked down at them. “Well, I’m not going to let that happen again.” Then he looked up and watched the forest in front of him. “Because I’m going to go after him and get Ruby back.”

Then he power walked in the direction where he assumed Tyrian went.

"Then we’re coming with you.” Jaune said as he and the others caught up to Qrow.

“No,” Qrow said. “You three should continue going up to Mistral, while I go and save Ruby.”

“Wait,” Ren stopped Qrow from walking away. “It’s my fault that Ruby got captured. I should be the one to get her back.”

“No, Ren.” Jaune said as he put his other hand, that wasn’t injured on Ren’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t be the one doing this, that’s why we’re coming along too. To help.”

“Yeah!” Nora nodded.

“That’s all sweet and everything.” Qrow interrupted the moment. “But I should be the one doing this, alone.”

“No, we can help.” Jaune said as he ran up to Qrow. “Just give us a chance, please.” He begged.

Qrow looked back at Jaune, clearly thinking about what to do. He didn’t like the idea of bringing these kids along with him, and I don’t think they will be giving up trying to change his mind either.

He sighed. “Fine,” The team lit up at that. “Just stay out of my way, okay?”

“We won’t let that happen.” Nora said, with a smile on her face.

“Good.” He nodded.

Then Qrow and team RNJR were off to save Ruby from Tyrian.


End file.
